She put her back to my chest, and suddenly my senses were full of her. The smell of her shampoo, the warmth of her body, the sound of her breathing, the feel of her curves pressed against me— they all combined in a joint assault on my self-control.
She shivered, and against my better judgment, I wrapped my arm around her rib cage, tugged her closer and shifted my legs until we were pressed together from head to toe.
“Is that better?” I asked, my voice barely recognizable for its low timbre. How many times had I actively tried not to fuck a woman I was in bed with?
Never.
“Much,” she whispered on a sigh.
Excellent. At least one of us was comfortable. Or, at least she would be until she realized that very hard thing running up her spine wasn’t a fucking hockey stick.
My attention moved to the fireplace, and I started counting the bricks, trying to think of any memory that would deflate my dick. Mom on Christmas morning…Dad—
She turned in my arms until those blue eyes locked on mine. Shit. If there was one thing sexier than her ass, it was her eyes. She never hid what she was thinking, never had an ulterior motive. Her candor was refreshing, frightening, and the biggest turn-on I’d ever had.
“I like this,” she admitted, as her cheek settled on my bicep for a pillow.
“What? The whole below-freezing Montana weather? The impromptu blizzard? The lack of power?” I asked.
“The fire, the solitude, being...this close to you.” Her gaze dropped to my lips.
“I like having you here.” I was caught off guard by how true the words were. Home had always been my refuge, my slice of quiet I didn’t share with anyone but the closest of friends and my family. But it felt right to have her here in my home, in my life. My thumb stroked a circle along her spine, unable to stay still when she was this close.
“Have you brought many…friends…home?” She brought her hands up to rest her fingertips on my chest.
“From Seattle?” I clarified.
“From anywhere?” She swallowed and glanced away before dragging her eyes back toward mine. “Friends…like me?”
She was asking if I’d ever brought a girl home. And we both knew Mom had told her within two minutes of arriving that I never had. She needed to hear it from me. Needed to know if she was important or not, and I wasn’t about to let her down.
“I’ve never brought anyone here,” I told her. “Friends I grew up with, of course, but I haven’t brought a friend home.”
“Not even in college?”
“Not even in college. There is no one I ever wanted to share this space with.” I brought my hand to her face and let my thumb slide across the soft skin of her cheek. “Not until you.”
We stared at each other in a charged silence, the moment able to go either way. She trembled slightly, and I knew it wasn’t from cold. Her back was warmed by the flames of the fire, her front by my own body.
We stood on a precipice, and even though I pretended to have a choice in the matter, I knew we had leaned too far out over the edge to pull ourselves back in. I wanted her too badly, she was too close, and my self-control was a quickly fraying string.
“I’m glad you brought me.” Her legs shifted restlessly against mine and her eyes widened, as though she’d finally felt how badly I wanted her. “I’m glad…” She looked at my mouth again, and memories of the locker room hit me at full force. “Eric?”
“You’re glad what?” I prompted, unwilling to let her be ambiguous about this.
“I’m glad we’re…friends.”
It wasn’t her words that got to me. They were innocuous enough. It was the way her body arched slightly, pressing her breasts into my chest, the way her fists had closed on my T-shirt, her nails lightly raking over my skin as she gripped the fabric.
That thin string holding my self-control snapped.
“First,” I said as I sent one hand to tangle in her hair at the nape of her neck. “I’m glad you came with me.” My other hand skimmed from her cheek, over her shoulder, down the side of her ribs, and across the valley of her waist until it rested on her hip.
“Is there a second?” She asked.
“Yeah.” I rolled, bringing her under me. My thighs slid between hers as I raised her knee so her ankle rested at the small of my back. My cock surged as I rocked against her, earning a gasp from her lips. “We are not fucking friends.”
I captured her mouth, and she opened for me instantly. My tongue slipped inside to tangle with hers. God, she tasted so fucking sweet, so perfect, so mine.
A growl rumbled from my chest as I filled my hand with her ass, my other one occupied in her hair. We kissed until her lips were swollen and her hips answered mine in a rhythmic motion. Then I tugged her hair, forcing her head back and raising her neck to my lips. I kissed my way down her throat, pausing to lick and suck at the patches of skin that made her whimper.
Fire raced through my veins, lighting up every nerve ending until I was hypersensitive. My clothes were too tight, too constricting, and that went double for my boxer-briefs.
As if she’d read my mind, I felt her yanking at my shirt, and moved my arms so she could pull it off.
“My God,” she whispered reverently like I was the God of Thunder himself. Her fingers grazed the winged tattoos that decorated my pecs. Her touch on my skin was a lit match to gasoline. I knew it would only take a few moments with her and I would combust. “They’re beautiful,” she told me as she traced the lines of the feathers.
“You’re beautiful,” I answered.
Then I brought my mouth back to hers, stopping any conversation we might have had. Our tongues tangled in a carnal dance. Our hands quested, learning the lines of each other. Her eyes locked onto mine as she raised her hands, and I took her wordless cue, sliding off her shirt.
Holy shit. Her breasts were perfect, high, and tipped with pearled, pink nipples that I couldn’t wait to taste.
So I did.
I sucked one perfect nipple into my mouth and flicked across it with my tongue. She arched beneath me and moaned, sinking her fingers into my hair and pulling me closer. I used my tongue, my lips, and my teeth until that pink nipple turned rosy, and then I did the same to her other breast, taking my time until she writhed beneath me and her nails bit deliciously into my scalp.
“Eric,” she cried as I let her nipple pop free.
“Pepper,” I answered as I trailed my lips down the hollow under her ribs until my tongue traced her bellybutton.
“You’re setting me on fire.”
I looked up, meeting her eyes before tucking my thumbs into her pajama pants. “That’s the general idea.” We stayed like that for a second, both knowing this was heading into dangerous territory. “Do you want to burn?”
She sucked in a breath. “Yes.” Her answer was breathless but firm. As if her words hadn’t given me permission, she lifted her hips, and I tugged her pants down her thighs, bringing her panties along with them. I was dying to see her naked, to taste her. The thought hadn’t left my head since the locker room.
Our eyes locked as I stripped the last of the fabric from her legs. Somehow that connection between us not only elevated the sheer sensuality of the moment but felt more intimate than anything we could do physically.
I sat back on my heels and looked over the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. There were no words good enough for her—for the curves that beckoned my hands and my lips, for the eyes that watched me with a heady expectation. She was dynamite in the pint-sized package, and I was more aware than ever of how delicate she was next to my massive frame.
“I’ve never seen a woman so fucking perfect.”
“I somehow doubt that,” she answered with a shaky smile.
“Never doubt how beautiful you are to me. You’re the most exquisite woman I’ve ever seen.” I gripped her knees then let my hands slide up the bare skin of her thighs. She was so fucking soft, her skin like silk under my calloused fingers. Her hips wiggled as I let my thumbs just graze the vee of her thighs, then continued to gently squeeze her waist. “Your curves drive me crazy. I can’t think when you’re close. I can’t focus. You are all that fills my head. There’s never a moment that I don’t want to kiss you, and that includes when I’m on the ice. I’ve thought of fucking you a hundred different ways on a hundred different surfaces.”
“You’re the perfect one,” she whispered as she gripped my biceps.
“You are everything.” I brought my body down on top of hers and let myself relish the feel of her skin against mine. Her nipples were points against my chest as I braced my weight on my elbows.
Then I got back to the business of kissing her, showing her with my mouth, hands, and tongue my utter devotion to worshiping her.
I groaned as her hands stroked my sides, her fingers following the grooves made by my muscles until they reached the band of my pants. Then she reached inside, cupping my bare ass.
“Pepper,” I growled, then raked my teeth along her lower lip lightly, tugging it just enough to earn her whimper of frustration.
“I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” she admitted, squeezing my ass. “Almost as much as this.” She swept over my hips until she held my dick firmly in her grasp.
“Fuck. Pepper. You..” Words failed me. She’d officially transferred all of the blood powering my brain straight to my cock.
“I what?” she grinned up at me.
“I want. God, yes, that’s good.”
She stroked my full length with both hands and her eyes popped wide.
While I still had a little willpower, I quickly gathered her wrists in one of my hands and pinned them above her head.
“Damn, woman. You have to stop. Right now I’m fully capable of getting you off and nothing more, but you keep touching me like that, and I’m going to lose it. And I refuse to push you into something you don’t want.” My dick throbbed, protesting every word I spoke.
Her wide eyes glanced down my body to where the head of my cock was trying to escape the elastic of my pants. Fucker knew what he wanted, and it was inches away.
Wait. Was that fear in her eyes?
Shit.
“Pepper,” I said softly as I stroked my thumb over the pulse in her wrist. “I would never pressure you. That’s what I’m trying to say. You’re completely safe with me.” I was a fully-grown man, not some asshole kid trying to slide home in the backseat of his dad’s truck.
“What?” she blinked up at me. “Oh, no. I know that. I’ve never felt as safe with someone as I do with you. That’s not…” her eyes drifted south again.